Question of the Week: How would Alexander Stephens have performed as the Confederate president?
Hypothetical Thinking Time: Jefferson Davis dies mysteriously in 1862. Alexander Stephens assumes the Confederate presidency. How will Stephens perform in the role?
Briefly. Alexander Stephens was not strong enough; his main contribution to the Confederacy was “token WHIG” in a Democrat-heavy administration. First opportunity a strong character — Wigfall, Breckinridge, Beauregard — found to nudge Pretender Stephens aside, he becomes a footnote to History.
Stephens doesn’t have the ability or strength to run a food truck.Thw Great Complainer
It’s quite possible the war may have ended sooner with Stephens at the helm, he was not as stubborn as Davis about many policies such as holding onto Richmond at all costs, or keeping someone like Braxton Bragg in charge in the Western Theater. Even more importantly, he didn’t believe in conscription or suspension of habeas corpus. I could see active peace talks beginning in fall of 1863 after Vicksburg and Gettysburg, eliminating a lot of unnecessary bloodshed.
He would have been the last Confederate president, being captured and imprisoned.
He would have court-martialed Patrick Cleburne for suggesting that slaves should have been armed to fight for the Confederacy depriving him of even divisional command for the best general in the western theater
To be honest, this was a possibility that I never considered. (I don’t think anyone else did.) Anyway, from what I understand, Stephens rarely, if ever, left his native Georgia during the conflict, so, he could have been the first virtual President.
Oh, I don’t know. Personally, I think Pat Paulsen might have been a better choice!